Rosie started it all. She was the culmination of a little girls dream. Little SS had been suffering from daily tummy aches since October, had gone to numerous doctor and specialist appointments, undergone countless invasive and painful procedures, with little to no answers. In January, we went on a cruise and the idea of having a pig was not even a consideration for us. By the end of April, we had three little piglets and a whole bunch of other animals.
Little SS was crying one afternoon, as I was rocking her, with a hot rice pack on her tummy, and she says to me, "Momma, I really want a piggy", and it got me thinking. (Me thinking nearly always turns into a crazy idea!) Before long, we were planning and preparing for our 4H Club and ultimately our animals.
Fast forward to April and we have three beautiful little piglets. They are Yorkshire/Blue Boar Crosses and the have the most adorable little pink noses. At our first weigh-in on April 7th, little Rosie was the smallest at just 29lbs. And boy was the weigh-in an adventure! The little piggies squealed, and by squealed I mean screamed, at the tops of their little lungs. They brought the neighbors clear up the street, out to their deck to see what was going on. It sounded a little like we were killing small children in the backyard!
As Rosie grew, and Little SS worked with her every day, they grew to be fast friends. Little SS learned that piggys have hair and that Rosie loved her belly rubbed. Rosie learned that if she threw herself down and rolled over, Little SS would rub her tummy.
In July, our world came crashing down when the city informed us that we could not keep our animals and would have to move them immediately. We had two options, both long drives, but with no other options in sight, we picked the best option and began the move. The pigs were the most difficult to load and took 7 adults and a whole bunch of kids, to finally get them loaded up and headed to their new home. Thanks to Momma & Pappa P, we had a great place for them and Rosie absolutely loved her new home, complete with room to run, straw to sleep in and a nice, big food trough!
Once Rosie got too big, using the swing scale was no longer practical, so we moved to using the "tape measure" method. If you want to picture just how much fun this was, picture me, standing in ankle deep mud, holding a sewing tape measure, trying to get my arms all the way around the a 175lbs. pig who doesn't terribly desire a hug. Needless to say, it was a humorous event each and every time.
When the fair came, we loaded up our little piggy and headed to the fair grounds. Our little Rosie weighed in at just 222 lbs., just barely making weight by 2 pounds! Lets just say we heaved a huge sigh of relief. In Market Class, Rosie was first out of the arena and garnered a Red Ribbon. We definitely didn't have the prettiest, or biggest piggy at the fair, but Little SS was happy with her results. She had enjoyed raising Rosie and she is all ready to start again next year!
